


The Last Goodbye

by immortalje



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-11
Updated: 2010-01-11
Packaged: 2017-10-29 13:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/320484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/immortalje/pseuds/immortalje
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What goes through the Doctor's head in the last show down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> 1) This takes place at the end of The End of Time, Part 2 and deflects the Doctor's thoughts as he has to decide between shooting the Master and Rassilon.  
> 2) This was first posted to Livejournal and Insanejournal in January 2010.  
> 3) This hasn't been beta read.

  
**The Last Goodbye**   


Finally, they were on equal footing again. It had taken centuries of being bitter enemies, fighting to hide their heartbreak. This revelation showed them, that they had never been enemies. They had always been on the same side. They just had refused to see that their true enemies were the Time Lords themselves. Not just any Time Lords though. The Time Lords that had been locked into a time lock at the end of the time war. The survivors. The people both of them would have given so much to return to.

Looking at each other, knowing what the others had planned, they both knew that the Time Lords that were left weren't what they loved about their own race. They had turned into an insult of their entire race. They were the once that had always kept them apart from each other and the other time lords.

He wished they could have seen this earlier, wished that this wasn’t the end. However, no matter what they had realised now – one of them would die today and one of them would stay behind with a broken heart.

There wasn't even time to say goodbye, to say words of forgiveness. This would be a "might have been" for all eternity with no chance of ever happening. It had always been so palpable and he was sure that deep down they had both known what they were meant to be. There just never seemed to be a way to circumvent the barriers of hate and anger between them.

He could see it reflected in the Master's eyes: The same realisations, the same feelings, and the same dread about what was to come. But they had already talked about it, hadn't they? What was the Master without the drums and what would the Doctor be without the Master. They had talked about it. Only, neither of them had realised the truth at the time.

It was ironic, all those that travelled with him and that were left behind – so close to having a part of the Doctor they loved and wanted to be with forever. So many broken hearts he hadn't intended to break. And this would be just another set of broken hearts. However, this time was different. This time, he would have given everything not to break them. This time... this time he wanted to give his hearts in return and time itself was against him.

When the Master returned his sentiment of "Get out of the way" he could only watch in horror and dread as he realised that it wouldn't be him to stop the Time Lords from annihilating everything. It wouldn't be him that left the Master behind. This time it would be him that gets left behind, broken hearted.

Against all odds and expectations, he would survive. And it was the last thing he wanted.

Getting up to hear Wilfred knocking, four times, he realised that he had been wrong all along. It was so simple to assume that the Master had been meant. It was so easy to be arrogant and dismiss that a lowly human could be the one doing the knocking. At the same time, there was no doubt that he would save Wilfred. No doubt at all. And just maybe, the pain would diminish with a new incarnation.

Did he truly want the pain of losing the Master to go away though? Did he really want to change again? He certainly didn't want to forget the Master, didn't want to forget this moment of clarity where they both knew that they had been cheated out of something that could have been beyond brilliant.

  
**The End**   



End file.
